Gosin University Hospital Opens Busan and Ulsan's First Occupational Disease Safety Center

Opening Ceremony on the 22nd, Efficient Management and Monitoring of Occupational Diseases

On the 22nd, the opening ceremony of the Busan Ulsan Occupational Disease Safety Center is being held at Kosin University Hospital.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Kosin University Gospel Hospital has opened and started operating the first Occupational Disease Safety Center in the Busan and Ulsan regions.

The Occupational Disease Safety Center is an institution responsible for identifying workers' occupational diseases, centered around regional base general hospitals in Seoul, Central (Incheon, Gyeonggi, Gangwon), Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, and Gwangju areas.

Kosin University Gospel Hospital has been assigned to the Busan and Ulsan regions.

At the opening ceremony on the 22nd, attendees included National Assembly member Kim Mi-ae of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ha Hyeong-so, Director of the Busan Regional Employment and Labor Office, Kim Hyo-kyung, Busan City Livelihood Labor Policy Officer, and Kim Jong-cheol, Chairman of the Korea Academy Foundation, among other officials.

Kosin University Hospital will establish a monitoring system covering regions with major industrial complexes by signing business agreements with several cooperative hospitals encompassing each jurisdiction.

The center will build a multidisciplinary network including departments related to major occupational diseases such as Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Respiratory Medicine, Neurology, Dermatology, and even the Cancer Center, to conduct monitoring.

In accordance with the recently enforced Enforcement Decree of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the center has established a system to immediately report to the local Employment and Labor Office if a patient is diagnosed with any of the 24 specified diseases.

Additionally, if an occupational disease accident investigation is required by the local Employment and Labor Office, the center will provide necessary medical consultation.

Kim Jeong-won, Director of the Busan and Ulsan Occupational Disease Safety Center and professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, stated, “For workers diagnosed with occupational diseases, doctors will examine the relationship between the disease and their occupation, and if suspected, collaborate with labor inspectors from the local Employment and Labor Office to support workplace investigations. This will enable more efficient medical services for workers suffering from occupational diseases.”

Hospital Director Oh Kyung-seung explained, “Unlike sudden safety accidents at workplaces, occupational diseases are not easily noticeable, so workers often do not know why they are ill and consider it a personal illness. As monitoring experience at the Occupational Disease Safety Center accumulates, we will be able to understand the status of occupational diseases, which were previously identified retrospectively, in greater detail.”